Tinley Park NARBC February 2010

If you’ve read the Random Neural Firings blog guest-written by Ben Weiner, then you know that I attended the special NARBC show held in Tinley Park. If not, you should read it to find out about the reasons for the show and how everyone will benefit from the outcome.

I went to the Saturday show, and was honored to meet ReptileChannel Associate Web Editor Ben Weiner, USARK President and fellow blogger Andrew Wyatt, and REPTILES sales manager Sandy Quinn. I don’t recall meeting Russ Case personally, but he must’ve been lurking in the shadows somewhere, because we do have photo evidence…

I also got to chat with Brian Barczyk of BHB Reptiles and SnakeBytes.tv. I mentioned how my favorite video of his is the one entitled “Will it Blend?”. He told me that many people thought what he was doing was real, and didn’t know that it was a spoof of the popular Blendtec blender videos. He said he’s taken a lot of heat for that video.

Just like at the last Tinley Park NARBC in October, I was impressed by the new species that I came in contact with that I haven’t seen anywhere else before. I caught my first glimpse of scaleless rat snakes, gigantic rococo toads, and several new crocodilians brought by Dr. Terry Cullen, along with an impressive array of venomous snakes brought by Robert Carmichael.

In addition to handling one of the quite friendly and massive rococo toads (and gladly escaping un-peed-upon), I also came across several pairs of rhino rat snakes and got to hold one for awhile. I first encountered a bright green adult rhino rat snake at the last NARBC show, and this time I got to handle a grayish-green baby. The only identical features between the adults and babies are, of course, their long pointy noses. This is a species that I would love to own in the future when I have some more space!

The most entertaining part of the day was the auction after the show. This was the first such auction that I’ve been to, and now I wish I had been to one before. The auctioneer, Brian Potter, used quite graphic language, and although he strayed from the topic occasionally, he kept everyone alert and amused. Only one escapee from the show was auctioned off – a tortoise, everything else was a willing donation. The best part was that all of the proceeds went to PIJAC and USARK along with additional donations. But the only problem with that is that when I know it’s for a good cause my self control goes out the window! I’ll have to discuss my “winnings” in a future blog.

So despite the snow and cold weather, I was very glad that I was able to go, but regretted that I couldn’t also attend Friday night’s events as well. I’ll be looking forward to any future events supporting PIJAC, USARK, or any group dedicated to defending the rights of reptilekeepers everywhere.